The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-07-27
A TREASURY FORGERY.
An Official Arrested for Passing
Many False Claims,

An Omc1al Arrested 1Or Passing
Many False Claims.
Something of sensation has been created
in the United States Treasury Department by
the discovery that trusted official had been
guilty of systematic attempt to defraud the
Government. The officer was arrested in
Wilkesbarre, Penn, where he had been
on vacation, and his dismissal
from the service was ordered by
Secretary Fairchild. His name is Oscar. j.
Harvey, and he has been employed in the
department since June, 1885, when he was ap-
pointed Chief of the Horse Claims division
of the Third Auditors office. 1t was while
he held this Office that he perpetrated the
frauds with which he is Low charged. On
June he was transferred to the head of a
division in the Second Comptroller's Office,
division which has charge Of claims of the
same nature as those in the division be had
left.
Mr.. Austin H. Brown, of indianapolis, sue
ceeded Harvey as Chief of the Horse Claims
division, and soon after he took charge of the
Office he discovered the frauds, which consist
claims for horses, aggregating 1900, and the
preparation of 161 additional cases of
similar nature, which were under con-
sideration in the office. Mr.. Brown
reported the matter to the Secretary.
He said his suspicious were first aroused by
popularity in the autographic signatures to
number of claims for horses lost or aban-
doned during the war by officers of Pennsyl-
vania and New Jersey regiments. On June
20 he discovered palpable forgery in one of
these cases, all of which appeared to have
been prosecuted by W. w. Wynn, first of
Philadelphia and then of Washington.
The investigation lasted over a week, and
during that time Mr.. Oscar j. Harvey was
on duty at his desk in the Second Comp
troller's Office, and there was every evil
dence that he was concerned in the pre-
paration of all the suspicious documents.
The stamp of the mail room, Third
Auditors office, and the stamp Of the Horse
Claims division had been forged, and
the dates arranged so as to bring them within
the limitation fixed for the filing of these
claims The stamp of the Quartermaster-Gen
erals office was also forged. In this way forty
three fraudulent claims, aggregating $4,000,
were paid. The drafts were regularly issued,
and an examination of such as have been re-
and Wynn are one and the same
person, and that although the
drafts were drawn in favor of the claimants,
the money, with one or two exceptions, went
directly to Mr.. Harvey or to some of his rela-
tives. He had procured their payment by
forging the signature or the payee and then
endorsing the draft with his own name. Mr.
Monfort, the Philadelphia notary, like Mr..
Wynn, the attorney, was found to be a myth.
Most Of the notaries and persons named in
the claims are unknown to the department.
In addition to The forty-three cases passed
there have been $50 similar cases adjusted
aggregating $3D, 900, and there are still pend
ing and unadjusted sixty three cases, amount
ing to $13, 600, making total of 161 fraudulent
cases which might have eventually been paid
but for the discovery.
Harvey was brought from Wilkesbarre to
Washington by secret-service officers and
taken before Secretary Fairchild, to whom he
made full confession of his guilt. He had
been driven to it, he said, by pecuniary
necessities, brought upon him by man with
whom he had been in partnership, and who,
ever since he received his appointment in the
Treasury, had .goaded him on to make the
most of his opportunities. "My partner"
concluded the prisoner, e told me had
good Office and that could raise the money
he wanted. did it, and now see what has
come Of it."
Harvey was taken before the police court
in Washington and was committed to Jail for
the action of the Grand Jury, bail being fixed
at $4,000. He is described as man of unus-
ual intellectual attainments, and as having
secured the unlimited confidence of his supe-
rior officers.